Architecture for REDD+ Transactions

Architecture for REDD+ Transactions
AbbreviationART
Formation2018 (2018)
TypeCarbon-crediting programme
HeadquartersLittle Rock, Arkansas, United States
Websiteartredd.org

Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) is a carbon-crediting programme for jurisdictional and national Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) activities. Established in 2018, it administers The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard (TREES), a standard for the quantification, monitoring, reporting and verification of forest-sector greenhouse gas emission reductions and removals at national and eligible subnational scale.[1][2]

ART is governed by an independent advisory board, while daily operations are managed by the ART Secretariat, hosted by Winrock International. The programme also oversees validation and verification procedures and a public registry for participant documents, the issuance of carbon credits, and other programme records.[3][4][5]

ART received broader public attention after the first TREES credits were issued to Guyana in 2022, after TREES-certified credits were used in purchase arrangements associated with the LEAF Coalition, and after the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) approved ART as a Core Carbon Principles (CCP)-Eligible programme in 2024 and approved the non-HFLD TREES 2.0 crediting level later that year. ART and TREES have also drawn criticism over high forest, low deforestation (HFLD) crediting, consultation with Indigenous peoples, and the operation of safeguards and grievance procedures.[6][7][8][9][10][11]

History

ART was established in 2018 as a market-based initiative intended to incentivise the protection and restoration of tropical forests at jurisdictional scale.[1]

The first version of TREES was published in February 2020.[12] In August 2021 the ART Board approved TREES 2.0, which expanded the standard beyond avoided deforestation and forest degradation to include optional HFLD and removals approaches and wider stakeholder participation pathways.[2]

Guyana became the first jurisdiction to have credits issued under ART-TREES. By 2023 it remained the only jurisdiction for which a claim had been verified and credits issued under the system, following the submission of an ART programme concept in 2020 and a credit claim for 2016–2020 results in 2022.[13] In February 2024 Guyana became the first country to make TREES credits available under CORSIA after completing the required corresponding-adjustment steps.[14]

In 2024 the ICVCM approved ART as a CCP-Eligible carbon-crediting programme. Later that year it approved the non-HFLD TREES 2.0 crediting level as part of wider efforts to restore confidence in scrutinised REDD+ credits. Separate consideration of the HFLD and removals approaches remained pending in 2026.[8][9][15][16]

In January 2025 ART and the American Carbon Registry (ACR) announced a planned early-2026 transition to Intercontinental Exchange's GreenTrace registry platform.[1]

Selected milestones

Selected milestones in the development of ART
Date Development
2018 ART is established as a jurisdictional REDD+ carbon-crediting programme.[1]
February 2020 First version of TREES is published.[12]
August 2021 ART Board approves TREES 2.0, adding optional HFLD and removals approaches.[2]
December 2022 ART issues the first TREES credits to Guyana.[6]
April 2024 ICVCM approves ART as a CCP-Eligible carbon-crediting programme.[8]
November 2024 ICVCM approves the non-HFLD TREES 2.0 crediting level.[9]
January 2025 ART and ACR announce a planned transition to ICE GreenTrace registry technology.[1]

Aims

ART is intended as a jurisdictional REDD+ framework designed to unlock finance for forest protection and restoration by standardising how large-scale results are measured, verified and issued as carbon credits.[2][3] Its governance structure combines standard-setting, independent validation and verification, registry administration and public programme documentation. Advisory board members serve in their personal capacities rather than as representatives of specific organisations or stakeholder groups.[3][4][5]

ART is often discussed alongside the Verified Carbon Standard jurisdictional and nested REDD+ framework and UNFCCC REDD+ results-based finance as one of the principal jurisdictional approaches in the forest carbon market.[17][18][19]

Standards and operations

ART's principal standard is TREES, under which countries and eligible subnational jurisdictions can generate verified emission reduction and removal credits by meeting requirements on accounting, safeguards, monitoring, reporting and verification. TREES 2.0 introduced optional approaches for HFLD jurisdictions and for jurisdictional removals.[2]

The programme requires independent third-party validation and verification before credits are issued. ART publishes programme information through its registry, and its public ART Registry includes reports on listed programmes, issued credits, retired credits, cancelled credits, buffer-pool balances, and Article 6 and CORSIA information.[4][5]

Because ART operates at jurisdictional scale, it must address the relationship between jurisdictional programmes and project-level activities within the same landscape, making nesting a recurrent issue in policy guidance.[20][21]

Market role

ART has been closely associated with the LEAF Coalition, which uses TREES-certified credits in its purchase arrangements and became a major buyer of jurisdictional TREES credits. ART TREES also formed part of wider efforts to standardise verification for higher-integrity forest carbon credits after prolonged scrutiny of the voluntary carbon market.[7][22]

ART has also been linked to CORSIA. By 2025 it was one of the existing standards approved to supply units to the aviation scheme, and Guyana remained the only country so far to provide TREES credits with a corresponding adjustment for that purpose.[10][14] In November 2024 the Brazilian state of Tocantins announced plans to offer credits under ART-TREES, reflecting the programme's growing role in proposed jurisdictional carbon-market transactions.[23]

ART has also featured in debates over how Article 6 of the Paris Agreement authorisation and corresponding adjustments interact with voluntary carbon markets.[24][25][26]

Reception and criticism

Because ART's public role centres on TREES, criticism of ART has focused largely on the design and implementation of the standard. Critics have argued that ART's HFLD approach can award credits for hypothetical future deforestation and therefore over-credit intact-forest jurisdictions; Guyana has often been used as the main example in that debate. Supporters, including some researchers and market groups, have argued that historical baselines alone can under-reward jurisdictions maintaining large intact forests under rising pressure and have defended HFLD crediting as a way to direct finance before deforestation accelerates.[13][10][27][28][29]

Concerns have also focused on consultation and grievance procedures. In 2023 the Amerindian Peoples Association said it was reviewing ART's decision on its complaint about Guyana's carbon credits, including whether free, prior and informed consent and other TREES requirements had been met. Public submissions on draft TREES 3.0 later called for stronger safeguards, clearer rules and methodological changes, including proposals from Rainforest Foundation Norway and the Öko-Institut.[11][30][31]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "ICE Announces Plans to Launch Environmental Registry Technology Services to Bring State-of-the-Art Infrastructure to Support the Growth of Carbon Markets". Intercontinental Exchange. 28 January 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard (TREES), Version 2.0 (PDF) (Report). Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) Program. August 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 "About us". ART Architecture for REDD+ Transactions.
  4. 1 2 3 "Validation and Verification". ART Architecture for REDD+ Transactions.
  5. 1 2 3 "ART Registry". ART Architecture for REDD+ Transactions.
  6. 1 2 ART Issues World's First Jurisdictional Forestry TREES Carbon Credits to Guyana (PDF) (Report). Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART). 1 December 2022.
  7. 1 2 Pacheco, Pablo; Panhol, Melissa (19 September 2025). LEAF Coalition and TREES Standard (PDF) (Report). Forest Trends.
  8. 1 2 3 Decision on the eligibility of an applicant carbon-crediting program: Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) (PDF) (Report). Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM). 25 April 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 "Integrity Council approves three REDD+ methodologies". Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM). 15 November 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 Early, Catherine (21 May 2025). "Will CORSIA flight offsetting scheme pay for green projects - or greenwash?". Reuters.
  11. 1 2 "APA says reviewing ART decision on carbon credits complaint". Stabroek News. 30 May 2023.
  12. 1 2 The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard (TREES) (PDF) (Report). Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) Program. February 2020.
  13. 1 2 "Case study: ART-TREES, Guyana credits" (PDF). Credits Where They Are Not Due: A Critical Analysis of the Major REDD+ Schemes (PDF). Rainforest Foundation UK. 26 July 2023. pp. 43–45.
  14. 1 2 Lampert, Allison (28 February 2024). "Guyana to sell first eligible carbon credits under airline emissions scheme". Reuters.
  15. ↑ Twidale, Susanna (15 November 2024). "Global carbon offset standard setter okays three deforestation project types". Reuters.
  16. ↑ "Assessment Status". Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).
  17. ↑ Lee, Donna; Neeff, Till (13 May 2021). "Shades of REDD+ ART, JNR or GCF: Which is Best for Countries?". Ecosystem Marketplace. Forest Trends.
  18. ↑ "Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR) Framework". Verra.
  19. ↑ "Lima REDD+ Information Hub". UNFCCC REDD+ Web Platform. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
  20. ↑ Nesting of REDD+ Initiatives: Manual for Policymakers (Report). World Bank. 2021.
  21. ↑ Hamrick, Kelley; Webb, Chris; Ellis, Ryan (March 2021). Nesting REDD+: Pathways to Bridge Project and Jurisdictional Programs (PDF) (Report). The Nature Conservancy.
  22. ↑ Payton, Ben; Slavin, Terry (5 April 2024). "Analysis: Forest communities fight for share of the shrinking carbon market". Reuters.
  23. ↑ Spring, Jake (14 November 2024). "Brazil's Tocantins state to offer $430 million in carbon credits". Reuters.
  24. ↑ Developing an Article 6 Strategy for Host Countries (Report). World Bank Working Paper. Washington, DC: World Bank. 2022.
  25. ↑ Granziera, Beatriz; Hamrick Malvar, Kelley; Verdieck, John (10 June 2025). Article 6 Explainer: Questions and Answers about the COP Decisions on Carbon Markets and What They Mean for NDCs, Nature, and the Voluntary and Compliance Carbon Markets (PDF) (Report). The Nature Conservancy.
  26. ↑ Linkages between Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and voluntary carbon markets (PDF) (Report). NEFCO. June 2025.
  27. ↑ Teo, Hoong Chen; Sarira, Tasya Vadya; Tan, Audrey R. P.; Cheng, Yanyan; Koh, Lian Pin (10 September 2024). "Charting the future of high forest low deforestation jurisdictions". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 121 (37) e2306496121. doi:10.1073/pnas.2306496121. PMC 11406276. PMID 39226355.
  28. ↑ Paltseva, Julia; Funk, Jason; Johnston, Britta; Langer, Paige; Lujan, Breanna; Wang, Stephanie (April 2023). Justification for High Forest, Low Deforestation Crediting: How Jurisdictional HFLD Credits Meet Integrity and Additionality Thresholds for Fungibility (PDF) (Report). Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).
  29. ↑ Statement of TFCI authoring organizations encouraging the positive assessment of HFLD credits (PDF) (Report). The Forest Credit Integrity (TFCI) Initiative. 9 October 2024.
  30. ↑ "ART TREES carbon market standard for jurisdictional REDD+ must be strengthened to better protect Indigenous Peoples". Rainforest Foundation Norway. 11 February 2025.
  31. ↑ Schneider, Lambert; Lauer, Sophia; Fallasch, Felix; Siemons, Anne; Wissner, Nora (22 September 2025). Inputs to the draft ART TREES 3.0 standard (PDF) (Report). Öko-Institut e.V.
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